What Are the Leave Entitlements in England and Wales?

Leave entitlements are an essential right for every employee in England and Wales. As an employer, it is crucial you understand what leave entitlements your team has. If you do not allow your employees the correct leave entitlement, you could find yourself with disgruntled staff, resulting in an unproductive workforce, or worse still, find yourself faced with an employment tribunal. This article outlines six types of leave entitlements legally available to employees in England and Wales.

Holiday Leave

Holiday leave is available to the majority of workers in England and Wales. It is also known as annual leave or statutory leave entitlement. If holiday leave is available to your employee, you must pay it according to the legal requirements.

For full-time workers, it must amount to 5.6 weeks annually or 28 days in total for those working a five day week. If your employee works part-time, their holiday leave must amount to 5.6 the number of days a week that they worked. For example, if they worked part-time two days a week, this would amount to 11.2 days a year. Whether or not this includes bank holidays is at your discretion as an employer. However, it is important to remember that if your employee works more than five days a week, you are not expected to give any more than 28 days or 5.6 weeks of leave. 

Sick Leave

If your employee is unwell, they have the right to take time off. However, rules around sick leave still apply.

For example, where an employee is taking sick leave and has been unwell for over seven consecutive days, they are must produce a doctor’s note, also known as a ‘fit note’. This note will detail whether your employee is fit for work. The seven consecutive days include days when the employee would not usually work, such as the weekend. 

Your company may also offer sick pay. This can be paid for a maximum of 28 weeks of sick leave. 

Sick pay is only available for those who qualify for it. In England and Wales, sick pay is a minimum of £96.35 per week unless the employer has a company sick pay scheme. In some circumstances, this may be available to employees required to self-isolate due to COVID-19.

Maternity Leave

In England and Wales, you must pay your employees statutory maternity leave of 52 weeks. This consists of:

• ‘ordinary maternity leave’ for the first 26 weeks;
• ‘additional maternity leave’ for the subsequent 26 weeks; and
• tax and national insurance deductible paid leave for 39 weeks.

Paid maternity leave is at the rate of 90% of the employee’s average weekly wage for the first six weeks, and then remains at this level or reduces to £151.97 per week, depending upon which is lower. 

Paternity Leave

If your employee has a partner who is having a baby, including where it is by adoption or surrogacy, they may have the right to paid Statutory Paternity Leave. Your employee can either take this as one week of leave or two weeks one after the other. 

An employee also has the right to pay during paternity leave, which is tax and national insurance deductible. The rate an employer must pay is 90% of the employee’s earnings per week or £151.97 per week, depending on which amount is lower.

An employer should note the following with regards to paternity leave:

• the amount of leave does not increase where the partner has more than one baby; and
• taking paternity leave does not affect your employee’s entitlement to holiday leave.

Adoption Leave

Your employee may have the right to take paid adoption leave where they have a child either by adoption or surrogacy. The maximum time an employee may have the right to is 52 weeks. The first half is ‘Ordinary Adoption Leave’, and the second half is ‘Additional Adoption Leave’.

Tax and national insurance deductible Statutory Adoption Pay is available to the employee for 52 weeks. For the first six weeks, it is at the rate of 90% of their gross earnings and the same for the remaining weeks, or £151.97 if this is lower.

An employer should be aware that taking adoption leave does not affect the employee’s entitlement to holiday leave.

Shared Parental Leave

Your employee may be entitled to Shared Parental Leave (SPL), as well as the pay associated with it termed Statutory Shared Parental Pay (ShPP), following a period of maternity or adoption leave where either of these two types of leaves was ended early. Whatever has not been taken of the adoption or maternity pay can be taken in the format as SPL and ShPP.

Key Takeaways

There are several types of leave entitlements available to employees in England and Wales. Some types of leave available to employees are not a legal entitlement, such as compassionate leave or bereavement leave. As an employer, it is important that you know the leave entitlements due to your employees, particularly those that are a legal entitlement. This article has explained those which are a legal entitlement, and these are:

• holiday leave;
• sick leave;
• maternity leave;
• paternity leave;
• adoption leave; and
• shared paternity leave.

Ensuring that you grant your employees the minimum legal requirement associated with these types of leave will help you to avoid repercussions for your business, such as employees raising grievances that could lead to employment tribunals and compensation payments made by you.

If you need help with leave entitlements in the UK, our experienced employment lawyers can assist as part of our LegalVision membership. You will have unlimited access to lawyers to answer your questions and draft and review your documents for a low monthly fee. So call us today on 0808 196 8584 or visit our membership page.

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